University of BC Sues Former Employee for Fraud

The University of B.C. is suing a former employee, alleging he stole more than $34,000 worth of materials for his own use over a six-year period.

Jan Patocka was terminated May 21 after UBC hired a private investigator and conducted an audit of purchase orders, UBC said in a statement of claim filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court.

The university alleges that Patocka had worked at the university since 1997 and held the position of minor works site supervisor from 2000 until his firing.

Nordstrom Arrests Result of In-Depth Investigation

Seven women accused of stealing and returning thousands of dollars of merchandise at Nordstrom stores for cash escaped notice for months, according to law enforcement investigators.

But the tide began to turn in May.

Some of the alleged thieves were store security employees, called loss prevention agents in modern retail parlance, and had a leg up on how to avoid getting caught stealing.
In fact, the alleged ringleader of the theft scheme, 26-year-old Rozita Davani, had been loss prevention manager at the King of Prussia store until she quit last spring.

Though the suspected thieves operated under the radar beginning in January, by May a seasoned Nordstrom investigator, Melissa Bridge, discovered numerous customer orders were missing, and began to unravel the alleged fraud that involved not only the King of Prussia Plaza store, but also stores in New Jersey and Maryland, according to court papers.

Are Employees Using These Sneaky Tactics to Defraud Your Business?

Investigation News - Are Employees Using These Sneaky Tactics to Defraud Your Business? - PInow.com Investigator Directory: "Employees embezzle many millions of dollars from their employees each year. All businesses need to be aware of the most common worker scams.

In 2004, Lucy Magda pleaded guilty to stealing more than $2.2 million from her previous employer, the St. Catharines Standard. The Burgoyne family, who owned the newspaper, was forced to sell the newspaper to Southam Newspapers in 1996, a move that some experts claim was brought about by Magda’s dishonesty. In 2006, a business manager of the N.C. Press Association pleaded guilty to embezzling $268,340 from his former employer. In 2006, an employee of Brock Cabinets was sentenced for five to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of embezzling $1.5 million from the company that hired her.

Findings from the University of Florida’s 2004 National Retail Security Survey suggest that theft by employees means more than $14.6 billion in annual losses, which means that employee embezzlement and dishonesty is the single most expensive type of fraud affecting businesses today. Yet, many businesses are blissfully unaware of the impact their employees have on their businesses. Lucy Magda was considered an ideal employee at the St. Catharines Standard – even though she stole from..."

There are many ways that employees may steal from a business: